The U.S. Department of Education requires that Financial Aid Offices establish a cost of attendance (COA) in calculating your eligibility for need-based aid programs. The cost of attendance is also referred to as a budget and is an estimate of projected costs that a student may incur while attending college.  Student budgets are differentiated by residency. classification (undergraduate or graduate) and enrollment levels. The standard components of the budget consist of a combination of your direct costs (tuition and fees, housing and food, books and supplies [including an allowance for the rental or purchase of a computer beginning with the 23-24 aid year]) and indirect costs (transportation, miscellaneous expenses, and loan fees). Indirect costs are considered indirect as they are dependent on other factors. For instance, while average loan fees are always included in your budget, this indirect costs’ impact on you is dependent on whether or not you decide to accept a loan.

Financial aid budgets are determined by using estimated tuition and fees, housing and food based on a two-person residence hall room and a full meal plan rate, an estimate for books based on information from the bookstore that has a contract with ESU, and starting in the 23-24 aid year, an allowance for the rental or purchase of a computer.  Transportation allowances are an estimate of expenses directly related to education and are not intended to cover all day-to-day transportation costs.  Miscellaneous expense is to provide some assistance with living expenses other than those already provided for in the housing and food allowance.  Loan fee allowances are an average of the fees paid by borrowers in the preceding year.  Actual expenses may vary somewhat from student to student. Where possible, the most current information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and their Consumer Expenditure and Consumer Price Index information is used at the time the COA is created for the next aid year, particularly with transportation and miscellaneous allowances.

Cost of Attendance

The cost of attendance, which is part of the calculation in determining how much aid you are able to receive, is calculated differently than traditional graduate programs. Tuition and books/supplies are based on the number of credit hours you enroll in and room/board, transportation, and miscellaneous expenses are based upon the number of weeks of instruction you are enrolled in with each part of a term being worth 7 weeks of instruction. The rates per credit hour and week of instruction are as follows:

Awarding Aid

Assuming that a student has completed all requirements necessary to be awarded aid, our office will award the student based on the hours and weeks of instruction enrolled at the time of awarding for all terms within the aid year (summer through spring). Any changes to a student's enrollment will result in revisions made to the student's awarding and the student will be notified of the revision via email.

Disbursement Dates

Disbursement of aid can occur no earlier than 10 days prior to a student's first start date of class. For example, suppose that the first part of the fall term begins August 20 and the second part of the fall term begins October 15. If a student is enrolled in the first part of the fall term, then the earliest disbursement date of aid would be August 10. However, if the student did not enroll in the first part of the fall term, but instead enrolled in only the second part of the fall term, then the earliest disbursement date would be October 5.